Landscape Information
Originally christened Rock Springs Arboretum, the 109-acre Fort Worth Botanic Garden is located west of downtown Fort Worth, Texas. The original 33-acre garden, established in 1933, was designed by the Kansas City, Missouri firm of father and son, Sidney Hare and S. Herbert Hare. The most outstanding feature of the Hare and Hare design is the terraced French/Italian revival municipal rose garden. The original gardens were constructed as part of an employment program during the Depression. The garden is the oldest botanic garden in the state of Texas and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 13, 2009.
The Botanic garden is comprised of twenty-two specialty garden spaces containing over 2,500 species of plants, a garden conservatory, and a public perennial trial garden, as well as naturalized areas and vistas. The specialty gardens include a four seasons garden with a meandering brook, a fragrance garden, and a Japanese garden featuring a koi pond, waterfall, and Japanese maples. This garden, designed in 1970 atop a reclaimed gravel pit, occupies a site that was used as a trash midden by the US Army during World War II.
